The Voyage of Verrazzano - A Chapter in the Early History of Maritime Discovery in America

Henry Cruse Murphy

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• Publié par: sefuz
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 64
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Voyage of
Verrazzano, by Henry C. Murphy
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Title: The Voyage of VerrazzanoAuthor: Henry C. Murphy
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5252] [Yes,
we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on June 12, 2002] [Date
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Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK, THE VOYAGE OF VERRAZZANO ***
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the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE VOYAGE OF VERRAZZANO;
A CHAPTER IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF
MARITIME DISCOVERY IN AMERICA.
BY HENRY C. MURPHY.TO THE MEMORY OF
BUCKINGHAM SMITH,
OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.
The following pages, intended to show the claim of
discovery in America by Verrazzano to be without
any real foundation, belong to a work, in hand,
upon the earliest explorations of the coast which
have led to the settlement of the United States by
Europeans. They are now printed separately, with
some additions and necessary changes, in
consequence of the recent production of the map
of Hieronimo de Verrazano, which professes to
represent this discovery, and is therefore supposed
to afford some proof of its authenticity; in which
view it has been the subject of a learned and
elaborate memoir by J. Carson Brevoort Esq.
Certain important documents in relation to
Verrazzano, procured from the archives of Spain
and Portugal by the late Buckingham Smith, on a
visit to those countries a year or two before his
death, are appended. They were intended to
accompany a second edition of his Inquiry, a
purpose which has been interrupted by hisdecease. They were entrusted by him to the care
of his friend, George H. Moore Esq., of New York,
who has placed them at our disposal on the
present occasion.
The fragmentary and distorted form in which the
letter ascribed to Verrazzano, appeared in the
collection of Ramusio, and was thence universally
admitted into history, rendered it necessary that
the letter should be here given complete, according
to its original meaning. It is, therefore, annexed in
the English translation of Dr. Cogswell, which
though not entirely unexceptionable is, for all
purposes, sufficiently accurate. The original Italian
text can, however, be consulted in the Collections
of the New York Historical Society, accompanying
his translation, and also in the Archivio Storico
Italiano, in which it is represented by the editor to
be more correctly copied from the manuscript, and
amended in its language where it seemed corrupt;
but such corrections are few and unimportant. In
all cases in which the letter is now made the
subject of critical examination, the passages
referred to are given, for obvious reasons,
according to the reading of the Florentine editor.
We are indebted to the American Geographical
Society of New York for the use of its photographs
of the Verrazano map, and to Mr. Brevoort for a
copy of the cosmography of Alfonse, from which
the chart of Norumbega has been taken. And our
thanks are due to Dr. J. Gilmary Shea of New
York, for valuable assistance; and to Dr. E. B.
Straznicky of the Astor Library, Mons. O. Maunoirof the Societe de Geographie of Paris, Dr. J.
Hammond Trumbull of Hartford, Hon. John R.
Bartlett of Providence, and James Lenox Esq. of
New York, for various favors kindly rendered during
the progress of our researches.
BROOKLYN, SEPT. 1875CONTENTS.
Page
I. The Discovery Attributed to Verrazzano
II. The Verrazzano Letters not Genuine
III. The Letter untrue. I. No Voyage of Discovery
made for the King of France, as it states
IV. II. Misrepresentations in regard to the
Geography of the Coast. The Chesapeake.
The Island of Louise. Massachusetts Bay
V. III. Cape Breton and the Southerly Coast of
Newfoundland, here claimed to have been
discovered, were known previously.
Perversion of the Text of the Letter by
Ramusio
VI. IV. The Description of the People and
Productions of the Land not made from the
Personal Observations of the Writer of the
Letter. What distinctly belonged to the Natives
is unnoticed, and what is originally mentioned
of them is untrue. Further important Alterations
of the Text by Ramusio,
VII. The Extrinsic Evidence in Support of the
Claim. I.
Discourse of the French Sea Captain of
Dieppe, VIII. II. The Verrazzano Map. It is not an
Authoritative
Exposition of the Verrazzano Discovery. Its
Origin
and Date in its present Form. The Letter of
Annibal
Caro. The Map presented to Henry VIII.
Voyages of Verrazzano. The Globe of
Euphrosynus
Ulpius
IX. The Letter to the King founded on the
Discoveries of
Estevan Gomez. The History of Gomez and
his
Voyage. The Publication of his Discoveries in
Spain and Italy before the Verrazzano claim.
The
Voyage described in the Letter traced to
Ribero's
Map of the Discoveries of Gomez
X. The Career of Verrazzano. An Adventurous
Life and
Ignominious Death. Conclusion
Appendix
Index
[Proofreaders note: ILLUSTRATIONS and MAPS
omitted]THE VOYAGE OF
VERRAZZANO:
A CHAPTER IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF
MARITIME DISCOVERY IN AMERICA.I.
THE DISCOVERY ATTRIBUTED TO
VERRAZZANO.
The discovery of the greater portion of the Atlantic
coast of North America, embracing all of the United
States north of Cape Roman in South Carolina,
and of the northern British provinces as far at least
as Cape Breton, by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a
Florentine, in the service of the king of France, has
received until quite recently the assent of all the
geographers and historians who have taken
occasion to treat of the subject. This
acknowledgment, for more than three hundred
years, which would seem to preclude all question in
regard to its authenticity at this late day, has,
however, been due more to the peculiar
circumstances of its publication than to any
evidence of its truth. The only account of it which
exists, is contained in a letter purporting to have
been written by the discoverer himself, and is not
corroborated by the testimony of any other person,
or sustained by any documentary proof. It was not
published to the world until it appeared for the first
time in Italy, the birth place of the navigator, more
than thirty years after the transactions to which it
relates are alleged to have taken place; and it has
not, up to the present time, received any
confirmation in the history of France, whose
sovereign, it is asserted, sent forth the expedition,